Pole vaulter Duplantis breaks long-standing outdoor record at Rome Diamond League
The Associated Press | Posted: September 17, 2020 7:58 PM | Last Updated: September 17, 2020
Swedish athlete clears 6.15 m to break Sergey Bubka's mark
Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis broke Sergey Bubka's 26-year-old outdoor world record on Thursday.
Duplantis cleared six metres, 15 centimetres at the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea meet in Rome with his second attempt, besting Bubka's mark of 6.14 metres set in Sestriere in July 1994.
The 20-year-old Duplantis, who was born and raised in the United States, had come close on his first attempt.
Nicknamed "Mondo," Duplantis also broke the indoor world record twice this season, clearing 6.18 metres in Glasgow in February.
Tune into Road to the Olympic Games on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET for more coverage of the Diamond League event from Rome.
WATCH | Sweden's Duplantis breaks 26-year-old pole vault record:
Duplantis was a child prodigy who broke age-group records on his way to joining the pole vaulting elite. He chose to compete internationally for Sweden, his mother's home country. He won the silver medal at last year's world championships.
World champion Karsten Warholm again narrowly missed out on Kevin Young's 28-year-old world record in the men's 400 hurdles but the Norwegian keeps getting close.
Warholm ran a meet record 47.07 seconds, less than three-tenths of a second off Young's record of 46.78 from the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
"It's my third best time ever and you know running low 47s on the regular is awesome," Warholm said. "So I'm really happy and this season has been a good experience for me."
WATCH | Akani Simbine reaches top of podium in men's 100:
Warholm ran 46.92 in Zurich last year and bettered that in Stockholm last month with a time of 46.87.
The toppling of the longstanding record appears almost inevitable.
"I'm quite used to the talk now and I just got to love it because it shows that I'm in a really good place," the 24-year-old said. "Just being able to talk about the world record and being that close is an amazing feeling."
Warholm was more than 1.5 seconds faster than Ludvy Vaillant of France, with Estonia's Rasmus Magi third.
WATCH | Elaine Thompson-Herah wins women's 100 with fastest time of season:
No fans were allowed in because of the coronavirus pandemic and that affected the lineups too, with the men's 100 noticeably lacking some of the high-profile names.
Akani Simbine won in 9.96 seconds, ahead of Arthur Cisse and Filippo Tortu, while double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah won the women's event in a world-leading 10.85.
Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda set a Diamond League record of seven minutes, 26.64 seconds to win the men's 3,000, beating Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway and Australia's Stewart McSweyn. All three ran personal bests, while Kiplimo and Ingebrigtsen also set national records.
WATCH | Diamond League commentator Tim Hutchings on the 2020 season:
Italy's Edoardo Scotti was first in the men's 400 with a personal best of 45.21. Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands also set a personal best of 50.98 to win the women's race.
Andrew Pozzi of Britain beat American duo Freddie Crittenden and Aaron Mallet in the men's 110 hurdles, while Nadine Visser triumphed in the women's 100 hurdles.
Femke Bol of the Netherlands won the women's 400 hurdles. Britain's Jemma Reekie triumphed in the women's 800 with countrywoman and big favourite Laura Muir only finishing third, behind Hedda Hynne of Norway.
Ukrainian pair Andriy Protsenko and Yuliya Levchenko won the men's and women's high jump, respectively. Nick Ponzio of the United States was first in the shot put.